General Education
by Rebana
Summary: After Hogwarts, many witches and wizards go to muggle college for general education. After a falling out between Ron and Harry, Draco is Ron's new best friend and roommate. Who would think that even at a muggle college, new dangers await?


Chapter 1: A Noise

Ron was awakened by a hard tug on his hair.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, sitting up in bed. He opened his eyes to discover that his hair was being grabbed by his best friend's hand.

"Get up," Draco said, "Come on."

"What?" Ron whispered, rubbing his eyes. He noticed Draco was wide-awake, and had even gotten dressed. "What time is it?" He mumbled. Draco smiled.

"It's nine fifty."

At those words, Ron bolted out of bed.

"Shit! I have class at ten!" He shuffled to the side of the room where their wardrobes were, and got dressed hurriedly. Then he started stuffing books into his backpack. From the other side of the room, Draco was clearing his throat. Ron didn't have time to humor him – he had a test today in American Lit! Draco made a particularly loud throat clearing noise, so Ron reluctantly looked over.

"Drac, I don't have time to –" He stopped mid-sentence. Draco was standing by the window, looking outside, where it was pitch black. Ron sighed. "It's not really ten o'clock is it?" Draco turned away from the window and sneered at Ron.

"Nope, but nothing gets you up like the threat of being late… who would have thought in college you'd become Mr. Goody-two-shoes?"

Ron was already sliding back into bed.

"Hey! Come on! You're up already."

"I have a test in the morning, just let me sleep," Ron protested, covering his head with his pillow. Draco snatched the pillow from his hands. Ron's eyes were squeezed shut.

"I heard something outside… a scuffle. We need to check it out." Ron bit his lip, deciding.

"What sort of scuffle?" He asked tentatively, opening his eyes just a crack.

"Some noise, and then someone said, "ouch."'

"You heard the word ouch?"

"Yeah. It sounded like someone was up to no good. Come on, get your wand. Or I'll just go by myself."

Ron got out of bed hesitantly.

"What time is it really?"

"Four thirty. But you'll be back asleep in no time!"

"Do you think it was Harry?" Ron groaned.

"I don't know. Though he does have reason to try something on you."

"What reason?" Ron blurted, suddenly mad.

"You kind of… smashed everything in his room up. Including his new laptop," Draco chuckled. Ron grinned, but his grin quickly faded.

"He deserves worse than that. I still haven't gotten him good enough," Ron declared, pounding his fist. Draco took a hard look at Ron.

"You really cared for that bitch Hermione, didn't you?"

Ron remained silent.

"Come on, let's go."

They pocketed their wands and headed for the door.

The hallway was dark, and as Ron and Draco tiptoed down, they listened at each door for any sign of noise. Finally, behind one door, they heard a creaking sound. They looked at the names on the door. It was Jessica and Hallie's room.

"You can always trust Potter to come through a girl's room," Draco scoffed, and took out his wand. They listened for more noise.

Suddenly, a girl gasped loudly, and there was muffled, quick talking. Ron made out one sentence – "_Be quiet! You don't want to wake Hallie up, do you?"_

"We should get in there," Ron ventured, "But put your wand pack in your pocket first."

Draco gave him a pleading look.

"It's not that I don't want to see Harry bleeding on the floor, it's just that we'll have a lot of explaining to do with Jessica and Hallie."

Draco sighed and reluctantly put his wand away. Ron swung open the door, and looked around. He couldn't see a thing.

"What the hell?" A boy's voice exclaimed from the other side of the room, and Ron and Draco rushed at him, knocking him back onto the floor.

"What in the world is going on?" Came Hallie's voice. She flicked the light on. Ron and Draco looked down at the boy they were on top of. They had never seen him before. They stood up quickly, and smoothed their clothes down. Ron helped the boy to his feet.

They looked at Jessica, who was sitting on her bed, clutching her blanket around her bare shoulders. She looked frightened.

The boy shook his head, gave Ron and Draco a bewildered look, and dashed out through the open window.

"I am… we are so sorry," Ron mumbled to Jessica, looking away from her. He noticed Draco couldn't take his eyes off her, so he nudged him with his shoulder,

"Drac, let's get out of here."

Hallie sprinted to the door and stood in front of it. She glared at them.

"You think you can just leave without giving an explanation? What the hell are you two doing in our room?" She gave them a once over, "And why on earth do you have sticks in your pockets?"

"Oh, well see, it's a long story," Draco started. "It would probably bore you, actually."

"Try me."

"Well, we heard some noise, and we decided to, um, check it out."

"Oh yeah? You heard a noise, so you barge into a girls room in the middle of the night?" She was fuming.

"Hey," Jessica muttered from her bed. They turned to look at her. She had put her shirt on. "Leave them alone."

Hallie stared at her.

"Jess?"

"Kyle was in here too. He was…" She faltered, looking down at her knees. "I'm just, actually grateful that Draco and his buddy showed up." She shot them a timid smile. Draco beamed at her.

"See?" He said, turning to Hallie, "You should be thanking us."

"Well, fine." She sighed. "I guess you've taken it upon yourselves to be the dorm guard dogs."

"Exactly," Ron exclaimed. "Wait. Are you calling us dogs?"

Hallie smiled,

"You're getting off lucky." She opened the door. "Goodnight," she crooned.

Ron and Draco stepped out, and walked back to their room. Once inside, they stared at each other, and started laughing. They tucked their wands back under their beds and got under their covers, still smiling. Ron sighed and closed his eyes.

"I think she likes me," Draco said from across the room.

"Who?"

"Jessica."

Ron snorted, opening his eyes again to look across the room at Draco.

"Some guy just tried to take advantage of her, Draco, she already had her shirt off. It wasn't for you."

"Well did you hear how she said Draco _and his buddy_? She knew my name, and didn't know yours."

Ron thought about that for a moment.

"I guess you're right," he sighed, "you should go for her."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well if you liked her, for example. I wouldn't go for her if you liked her."

Ron turned to face the wall, and shut his eyes tightly.

"Go for her. Just, shut up now, I need to get some sleep. I have to take a test in five hours."

Draco chuckled, and shuffled under his covers. Soon, he was snoring loudly. It took Ron much longer to fall asleep.


End file.
